The Spring Assisted KnifeDefinition: a spring-assisted knife is a folding knife with a spring that collaborates with the process of deploying a folding knifeís blade by helping and reinforcing the action of extracting that blade out of the knifeís handle.Doesn't that sound scientific, right? Well, I came up with the above and proud of it but let's talk like humans and get to the point. And the main point would be to understand the difference between automatic knives a.k.a switchblades and the versions of spring assisted knives.

Legally speaking, and thatís the important part, a switchblade has a button or something on its handle; you press on that button or whatever and the blade pops out. Thatís it.A spring-assisted knife does not have anything on its handle that will fire the blade out. It has always something on the blade itself; a stud/s on one or both sides of the blade and/or, most cases, on the bladeís spine. You push, a little, on the bladeís stud and the blade pops out.

So whatís the big deal? Well, it has more to do with politics than with anything else. Itís true, from the technical-effectiveness stand-point that the automatic/switchblade is the easiest; the fastest knife-deployment system. Well, the assisted-opening-knife-system is as good in the case of Smith & Wesson assist knives, and almost as good with any other assisted-knives makers. On the other hand, things are getting really nasty when it comes to the legal aspect of carrying an automatic knife.

Here is the big deal:

It is legal, in most states as far as we know, to carry a spring assisted knife. It is illegal, for a civilian-with-healthy-arms-and-hands to carry an automatic knife/switchblade in every single-one of our beautiful states in the mighty USA.

Want to hear something funny? I never, ever heard about spring assisted knives in Europe or Asia. I donít know about the Far-East. Basically, the assisted knife is an American substitute to the switchblade considered as a weapon by our lawmakers. In California, you can carry a switchblade but its blade canít be longer than 2 inches. Go figure.